While most of Walt Disney World’s newest rides are based on popular movie franchises, once upon a time, Disney Parks created many attractions with original stories and characters. Some of those, like Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, have since become movies in their own right, and now another popular character, Epcot’s Figment, is in line to get his own movie, and this may be exactly what fans of the little purple dragon have been waiting for, for more than one reason.
Deadline reported yesterday that Seth Rogen’s company Point Grey, is producing the project, with Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, the duo who wrote Detective Pikachu, handling script duties. This is obviously great news for fans of Figment who would like to see him star in his own movie, but this also could lead to updates to the Epcot attraction, Journey Into Your Imagination, with Figment, which could be very welcome changes for those same fans.
The History of Journey Into Imagination
The original Journey Into Imagination opened shortly after Epcot Center itself, in early 1983. The attraction included a pair of original characters, the Dreamfinder, and his sidekick, a little purple dragon who was a figment of your imagination, called simply Figment. The attraction proved quite popular among fans.
The attraction was updated into Journey Into Your Imagination in 1999. The story was changed significantly, creating the Imagination Institute, which tied into the story of the Honey, I Shrunk the Audience 3D movie nearby. Eric Idle was brought in to play a new character, Dr. Nigel Channing.
Fans largely disliked this new version of Imagination. Dreamfinder was gone entirely and Figment had little more than cameos. Walt Disney World clearly noticed the discontent, as this version of the attraction only lasted two years before getting renovated again. It reopened in 2002 as Journey Into Your Imagination with Figment. The dragon was given a more significant role in the ride, and while most fans who rode the original version still prefer it, the current attraction is at least seen as a step up from where it had been.
The Future Of Figment
Figment is still very popular and has largely remained an unofficial mascot for Epcot. A recent Figment popcorn bucket became the hottest ticket in the park. At D23 Disney Parks chairman Josh D'Amaro announced that a Figment meet-and-greet character would be returning to Epcot at some point in the future.
The current version of the attraction has been around longer than the first two versions combined, so it wouldn’t be that shocking to see Journey Into Your Imagination get a significant refurbishment in the next couple of years, it seems its due. And certainly, Disney World is going to want to use the ride to promote the movie, and the movie to promote the ride. It’s going to be worth Disney World spending the money because it can mean Disney seeing greater income both at Epcot and on the media side of the business.
The good news for Figment fans is that, obviously, if there was any significant update to the attraction, even if it wasn’t directly tied to the story of the movie, Figment is certainly going to be featured prominently. Nobody is going to make a Figment movie and then refurb the ride to include less of the purple dragon. We could even see the return of Dreamfinder, if he’s going to be part of the film. We can only hope.
It’s obviously very early in the process, there isn’t even a script yet and so we have no idea when, or even if, we’ll actually see this movie. If it does happen, however, it could lead to a fourth version of the popular attraction which might, if we’re lucky, be at least the second best version of it.
